A federal judge ruled against a Tulsa police captain who refused to force some of his
subordinates to attend a dawah (Islamic proselytizing) event at a Tulsa mosque, in exercise of his First Amendment rights.

If it had been a church they had been required to go to, they'd have won. This judge lost it. But the fight is not over. Our legal team, David Yerushalmi and Robert Muise, are on it:

Tulsa, Oklahoma — In a short, 16-page
opinion, an Oklahoma federal judge ruled late yesterday that the City of
Tulsa and two of its senior police officials, Chief of Police Chuck
Jordan and Deputy Chief of Police Daryl Webster, did not violate the
constitutional rights of Captain Paul Fields, a Tulsa Police officer who
was summarily punished for refusing to attend a mandated Islamic
proselytizing event held at a local mosque. Despite the fact that the
federal judge was required to view the evidence and all reasonable
inferences drawn from that evidence in favor of Captain Fields before
dismissing his constitutional claims, the judge concluded that “no
reasonable jury could find Fields was personally ordered to attend” the
Islamic event “because the directive at issue permitted him to assign
others to attend rather than attend himself.” By doing so, the judge
avoided addressing a central issue in this case, stating, “The issue of
whether a directive requiring his personal attendance at the event would
have violated his First Amendment rights need not be decided here.”

Robert Muise, Co-Founder and Senior Counsel of the American Freedom
Law Center and lead counsel for Captain Fields in the case, commented,
“This ruling is troubling on many levels. However, this fight is far
from over. Judge Frizzell may have been the first judge to review and
decide the important constitutional issues at stake in this case, but he
won’t be the last. We will be appealing this ruling to the U.S. Court
of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.”

In January 2011, the Islamic Society of Tulsa announced that it was
holding a “law enforcement appreciation day” at its local mosque. Like
every other “appreciation” event, attendance at that time was voluntary.
However, the Islamic “appreciation” event was unique in that included
religious proselytizing. In fact, it was advertised as including mosque
tours, meeting local Muslim leaders, observing an Islamic worship
service, and receiving presentations on Islamic religious beliefs. And
as the sworn testimony of Sheryl Siddiqui, the representative testifying
on behalf of the Islamic Society, confirmed, the Islamic event was
intentionally scheduled to occur on Friday, March 4, 2011, since Friday
is the “holy day” for Islam and the Muslim hosts wanted to ensure that
religious worship services were available to the officers.

On February 17th, the Islamic event was no longer voluntary as Deputy
Chief Webster issued a directive via email, mandating officer
attendance. The email was forwarded to Captain Fields by his immediate
supervisor, Major Julie Harris, and it stated, in relevant part, “We are
directed by [Webster] to have representatives from each shift—2nd, 3rd,
and 4th to attend [the Islamic event].” Upon receiving the directive,
Captain Fields expressed his concerns to Major Harris, explaining that
the order was unlawful and that it violated his constitutional rights.
Captain Fields told Major Harris that he felt obligated to raise his
objections with his chain of command, and she authorized him to do so.

With the approval of Major Harris, Captain Fields responded to the
directive that same day by email, stating that he believed it was “an
unlawful order, as it is in direct conflict with my personal religious
convictions, as well as to be conscience shocking.” He concluded,
“Please consider this email my official notification to the Tulsa Police
Department and the City of Tulsa that I intend not to follow this
directive, nor require any of my subordinates to do so if they share
similar religious convictions.”

The following day, Deputy Chief Webster sent an interoffice
correspondence to Captain Fields, requesting that he reconsider his
position and warning him of the consequences for not doing so. Captain
Fields told Webster that he could not comply with the mandatory order
based on his religious beliefs and convictions. As a result, Webster
ordered Captain Fields to appear in the conference room of Chief Jordan
on Monday, February 21, 2011 for a meeting. Captain Fields complied,
and the meeting was held.

During this meeting, Captain Fields again explained to Webster and
Jordan that he believed the order was unlawful and that he could not, in
good conscience, obey it or force officers under his charge who shared
his religious beliefs to obey it. Captain Fields also explained that he
had no officers from his shift who were willing to volunteer.

Moments after explaining his religious objections to the directive,
Deputy Chief Webster handed Captain Fields a transfer order and a notice
that he was now the subject of an internal affairs (IA) investigation.
Captain Fields was thus immediately stripped of his command and
transferred to another division. Consequently, any opportunity Captain
Fields would have had to comply with the order was lost.

The very next day, the Islamic event was made voluntary for Captain
Fields’ former shift, and three days later, Deputy Chief Webster made
the event voluntary for the entire police department. Nonetheless, the
police department proceeded with the IA investigation and punishment of
Captain Fields for raising a religious objection to the order.

On March 10, 2011, Captain Fields received an official notification
via email stating, “You are hereby notified that Chief Chuck Jordan has
requested IA to conduct an administrative investigation in regards to
your refusal to attend and refusal to assign officers from your shift,
who shared your religious beliefs, to attend the ‘Law Enforcement
Appreciation Day’ on March 4, 2011, at the Tulsa Peace Academy.”

Following the IA investigation, in June 2011 Captain Fields was
suspended for two weeks without pay, and his punitive transfer was made
permanent. A portion of his punishment was recently overturned through
an arbitration proceeding. However, the constitutional violations have
not been remedied.

In Captain Fields’ official “Sworn-Employee Performance Evaluation,”
which was signed and verified by both Chief Jordan and Deputy Chief
Webster, it states, “Captain Fields was disciplined during this rating
period for refusing to attend and refusing to direct that officers
attend a law enforcement appreciation day at a local mosque.”
Furthermore, Chief Jordan’s testimony reveals that Captain Fields was
punished because his Christian beliefs conflict with Islamic beliefs.
Chief Jordan testified, “I can’t have a police department where
everybody refuses to give – to interact with Muslims because they say
it’s their religious reasons.”

Muise commented further, “Contrary to the judge’s ruling in this
case, the evidence is undisputed and overwhelming that Captain Fields
was punished for merely raising a religious objection to the mandatory
order, and this included punishing him for refusing to attend the
Islamic proselytizing event based on his sincerely held religious
convictions. In short, the judge simply got it wrong. We are eager to
get this case before the Tenth Circuit.”

As the sworn testimony in the case demonstrated, during the Islamic
Event, the Muslim hosts discussed Islamic religious beliefs; they
discussed Mohammed, Mecca, why Muslims pray, how they pray, and what
they say when they are praying; they showed the officers a Quran; and
they showed the officers Islamic religious books and pamphlets that were
for sale and encouraged the officers to purchase them. Consequently,
Captain Fields’ objections were completely justified and substantiated.

Muise concluded, “One of the tragedies of this case is that the
City’s attorneys have decided to publicly vilify Captain Fields by
denying the sincerity of his religious beliefs and falsely claiming that
his religious objections were motivated by anti-Muslim sentiments. The
bitter irony is that Captain Fields was one of the primary officers
involved with helping to protect this mosque from a criminal suspect
intent on doing harm, and it was this very incident that served as the
justification for the ‘appreciation’ event in the first instance.
Captain Fields, a dedicated and loyal public servant, deserves better
treatment than this.”...

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Sharia law in Tulsa: Federal Judge Dismisses Constitutional Claims of Tulsa Police Captain Punished for Objecting to Order Mandating Attendance at Islamic Event

A federal judge ruled against a Tulsa police captain who refused to force some of his
subordinates to attend a dawah (Islamic proselytizing) event at a Tulsa mosque, in exercise of his First Amendment rights.

If it had been a church they had been required to go to, they'd have won. This judge lost it. But the fight is not over. Our legal team, David Yerushalmi and Robert Muise, are on it:

Tulsa, Oklahoma — In a short, 16-page
opinion, an Oklahoma federal judge ruled late yesterday that the City of
Tulsa and two of its senior police officials, Chief of Police Chuck
Jordan and Deputy Chief of Police Daryl Webster, did not violate the
constitutional rights of Captain Paul Fields, a Tulsa Police officer who
was summarily punished for refusing to attend a mandated Islamic
proselytizing event held at a local mosque. Despite the fact that the
federal judge was required to view the evidence and all reasonable
inferences drawn from that evidence in favor of Captain Fields before
dismissing his constitutional claims, the judge concluded that “no
reasonable jury could find Fields was personally ordered to attend” the
Islamic event “because the directive at issue permitted him to assign
others to attend rather than attend himself.” By doing so, the judge
avoided addressing a central issue in this case, stating, “The issue of
whether a directive requiring his personal attendance at the event would
have violated his First Amendment rights need not be decided here.”

Robert Muise, Co-Founder and Senior Counsel of the American Freedom
Law Center and lead counsel for Captain Fields in the case, commented,
“This ruling is troubling on many levels. However, this fight is far
from over. Judge Frizzell may have been the first judge to review and
decide the important constitutional issues at stake in this case, but he
won’t be the last. We will be appealing this ruling to the U.S. Court
of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.”

In January 2011, the Islamic Society of Tulsa announced that it was
holding a “law enforcement appreciation day” at its local mosque. Like
every other “appreciation” event, attendance at that time was voluntary.
However, the Islamic “appreciation” event was unique in that included
religious proselytizing. In fact, it was advertised as including mosque
tours, meeting local Muslim leaders, observing an Islamic worship
service, and receiving presentations on Islamic religious beliefs. And
as the sworn testimony of Sheryl Siddiqui, the representative testifying
on behalf of the Islamic Society, confirmed, the Islamic event was
intentionally scheduled to occur on Friday, March 4, 2011, since Friday
is the “holy day” for Islam and the Muslim hosts wanted to ensure that
religious worship services were available to the officers.

On February 17th, the Islamic event was no longer voluntary as Deputy
Chief Webster issued a directive via email, mandating officer
attendance. The email was forwarded to Captain Fields by his immediate
supervisor, Major Julie Harris, and it stated, in relevant part, “We are
directed by [Webster] to have representatives from each shift—2nd, 3rd,
and 4th to attend [the Islamic event].” Upon receiving the directive,
Captain Fields expressed his concerns to Major Harris, explaining that
the order was unlawful and that it violated his constitutional rights.
Captain Fields told Major Harris that he felt obligated to raise his
objections with his chain of command, and she authorized him to do so.

With the approval of Major Harris, Captain Fields responded to the
directive that same day by email, stating that he believed it was “an
unlawful order, as it is in direct conflict with my personal religious
convictions, as well as to be conscience shocking.” He concluded,
“Please consider this email my official notification to the Tulsa Police
Department and the City of Tulsa that I intend not to follow this
directive, nor require any of my subordinates to do so if they share
similar religious convictions.”

The following day, Deputy Chief Webster sent an interoffice
correspondence to Captain Fields, requesting that he reconsider his
position and warning him of the consequences for not doing so. Captain
Fields told Webster that he could not comply with the mandatory order
based on his religious beliefs and convictions. As a result, Webster
ordered Captain Fields to appear in the conference room of Chief Jordan
on Monday, February 21, 2011 for a meeting. Captain Fields complied,
and the meeting was held.

During this meeting, Captain Fields again explained to Webster and
Jordan that he believed the order was unlawful and that he could not, in
good conscience, obey it or force officers under his charge who shared
his religious beliefs to obey it. Captain Fields also explained that he
had no officers from his shift who were willing to volunteer.

Moments after explaining his religious objections to the directive,
Deputy Chief Webster handed Captain Fields a transfer order and a notice
that he was now the subject of an internal affairs (IA) investigation.
Captain Fields was thus immediately stripped of his command and
transferred to another division. Consequently, any opportunity Captain
Fields would have had to comply with the order was lost.